Family Employment and the Mediterranean welfare regime. Family, State and Market

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to try to explain the differences in the female employment rates between the countries of the Southern European welfare regime: Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The reason for doing it is that, according to the theory on the Mediterranean welfare regime, the family is the central element of the regime. Considering that women are, in turn, the central element of the activity within the household, it is imperative to understand why are there such big variations in the female activity outside the household between the studied countries. This is done by exploring the three angles of the welfare state: the family, the state and the market. Each one of these angles is presented as a category that encompasses several variables that are directly related to it. Each of these variables is explored separately in the first place and then put together with the rest in search for possible patters. The results show that there is a distinctive pattern in Portugal and, to a lesser degree, in Spain that favors female employment while the opposite happens in Greece and Italy.